This is my online journal of my forays into the world of
Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship
with my equine partner
Cheerios. Everything that happens
with us,
good and bad, will be exposed for the world to see.
R.I.P. Wildflower 19?? - 2005, my first levels partner.

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Saturday, August 06, 2005

Where HAVE I Been?Saturday, August 6, 2005

Well, I have to find my "code" for this blog so I can keep it consistent... but first, my apologies. I've been VERY lazy. Considering it has been almost a full YEAR since I trailed off in the middle of a posting...

Here is a brief summary. Details to follow in actual lengthy posts organized by their actual past dates, since I actually did have the foresight to write quite a lot of material intended for this blog. I just didn't bother logging on. Pity.

Firstly, the Big Event that lead to the trailing-off was that I received a phone call out of the blue that changed my life. I'm adopted. I've been searching for my birth family, to no avail, for years. On that particular day, my typing was interrupted by a female voice with a strong Southern accent asking for me by name. Figuring it was telemarketers or bill collectors, I suspiciously asked who was calling and what this concerned. Imagine my shock when the voice gave a name and said "We think you might be our sister".

Fast forward to spare the details, but yes, she was indeed ONE of my biological sisters, I've been found, and I've met my birth mother and sisters. My birth father passed away seven years ago. Well, we think he was my Dad, anyway. There is a small chance he may not be. I have four full sisters, one full living brother, one full dead brother (died at 9 months), a half brother on the maternal side, a half sister on the paternal side, and at least one half-brother on the paternal side. With respect to the paternal side, we all don't know just how many more half-siblings might turn up. *ahem* Anyway, it was a good experience, albeit highly emotional, not what I would have expected, they are nice people, I got a lot of answers, and I feel more complete than I have in my entire life.

I also found out that my long-held suspicions were correct. I AM Native American. My a-family has had a good laugh at my expense in the past, saying their is no way I could be Native American due to my coloring (dark hair, green eyes, light skin) but as I've pointed out, I'm not quite the same shade of "light" that they all are and I've always tanned a different color (reddish). I've always suspected I was a little NA, maybe at best 1/16th if I were very lucky.

Turns out I'm one-eighth. My mother's grandfather was 100% Cherokee.

There's a chance that percentage may be greater. IF her ex-husband was indeed my father as she claims, and IF his claims were correct, then I may also be part Blackfoot. Of course, my b-Dad was the type who liked his liquor and liked to tell tales. So that could be false. But the Cherokee part is accurate. I've seen photos. My gg-grandparents were most undeniably Indian.

In other news (back to the topic of horses):

Wildflower passed away March 2, 2005. It sounds like a sad cliche, but she broke her leg and had to be put down. It was the worst possible kind of fracture on the worst possible limb. There just wasn't anything medical science could do.

I bought a new mare in May to be my partner and re-named her Shaveya. She's a sorrel/white Tovero Paint, a Medicine Hat, with two blue eyes. They are sacred to the Indians.

Shaveya turned up very lame a month later and is on pasture rest and being subjected to lots of medical investigation and treatment, so...

Cheerios has become my new PNH partner. Yes. You read that correctly.

Cheerios and I went on our first trail ride in July. In the PNH hackamore. Yes. You read that correctly.

I am no longer afraid of Cheerios at all. Yes. You read that correctly.

In April, I spent a week at the Florida Parelli Center with a leased horse.

In January 2006, I'm leaving for a six-week stay at the Florida PC. With Cheerios.

I'm also going back to school to get an MBA.

I'm still unemployed, living off my parents, have five cats now, and am probably going to sell my house and move back in with my parents for a while after returning from Florida. Since I'll be going to college in my hometown, if I can get accepted into next July's full-time MBA program, I won't want to commute, and the burden on my parents is beginning to show.

This world is organized around money. He who has the cash controls everything. He who does not is controlled by he who has the cash. I'm tired of being controlled by others. If and when I get another crap job, I want to be able to use my cash for my own purposes without presenting it to a committee for approval first. WHEN I win the lottery, this will no longer be an issue.

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